


This I Promise

by BlackRose16



Series: Loving You Is Like Wishing For Rain When Standing In The Desert [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: F/M, M/M, Prequel, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 21:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1200604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackRose16/pseuds/BlackRose16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud Strife hates Lover's Day with a passion and no, it's not because he's single.  It's a day where he is reminded of everything he lost and can never have.  Or so he thinks until two friends decide that the hero of the story deserves his chance at a happily ever after too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This I Promise

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little prequel I wrote for Valentine’s Day. And then I got sick. At least I still made it for the Valentine’s month. There will be a much larger main story after this that I will post when it is complete. I have a bit of a thing for time travel fics and Final Fantasy is a perfect candidate for a time travel fix it.

Cloud sat at the bar nursing his beer.  He’d lost count of the number of drinks that he’d consumed.  It wasn’t like they could affect him anyway thanks to the amount of Mako in his system so he wasn’t worried.

Generally speaking, Cloud knew that he was by far not a happy person but there were a few specific days of the year where all he wanted to do was get so drunk that he couldn’t remember his own name let alone anything else.  The anniversary of Zach’s death was one of them, Aerith’s death was another, that day in Nibelheim when Sephiroth lost it, the two days that he’d been forced to kill Sephiroth and then today.

Lovers’ day.

How he _hated_ Lovers’ Day.  For most people it was a joyous day that they spent with loved ones or used the opportunity to approach a crush.  To Cloud, however, it was a day that emphasized all that he had lost and could never have.

The blonde signalled to the bartender to get him a couple more shots.  Downing several more shots of vodka did nothing other than give him a slight burn at the back of his throat for a moment.

Feeling utterly miserable, Cloud reached under his shirt and pulled out a chain.  It was a normal everyday silver chain but what held the young blonde’s attention was what was hanging from the chain.  He pulled it over his head and slipped the ring off the chain.  The ring was also silver but had an intricate design of entwining vines etched upon it.  On the inside was a short engraving which read _This I Promise_.

Reading the inscription for the thousandth time, Cloud snorted.  Some promise.  Here he was at twenty five – which should have been the prime of his life – nursing a shattered heart in a bar all by himself on Lovers’ Day just like he had been doing for the last… fuck nearly ten years.

Cloud could still remember clearly the night that he’d been given the ring.  It was one of his few memories pre-Hojo that still remained clear and easy to recall.

The academy had been so different than how he had expected it to be.  For a young boy coming from a small mountain village it was a bit of a culture shock on top of all the expectations of a cadet.  He was very lucky that Zach had seen something in him and had offered to take the little blonde cadet under his wing and help him prepare for the SOLDIER exams.  He and Zach had grown close over the next few months.  The SOLDIER first class had mentioned General Sephiroth several times but Cloud had never seen the General – his childhood idol – up close.  Then one day when Zach was away on some mission, the General had shown up to help train Cloud in his place.  The blonde couldn’t remember anything about that first training session except thinking _He’s standing next to me.  He’s touching me.  He’s touching me.  I could die happy right now._

Needless to say that that little childhood crush had burned quiet bright.

It took a number of training sessions and seeing Sephiroth interacting with Zach just as any friend would for Cloud to begin seeing the all powerful and scary General as a person as well.  Then the childhood worship turned into something more… something deeper… more intimate.  Before Cloud knew it, he was deeply in love with Sephiroth and started to notice that maybe Sephiroth had an interest in him as more than a cadet that his friend was training.

Ten years ago, on Lovers’ Day, Sephiroth made his move.

Zach had gone to spend the day with Aerith so when Cloud had received an invitation from Sephiroth to his apartment for that evening, the blonde had been nervous but excited.

The older man had gone all out.  Sephiroth must have used a combination of advice from Zach and romance movies when he’d planned the evening.  Starting from the doorway was a trail of red rose petals leading into the apartment all the way to a table in what was presumably the dining room.  The table was set with white linen, a bouquet of roses and several candles.  There were dozens more candles throughout the room to provide light and create an atmosphere of intimacy.  To top the entire thing off, there was some type of soft music playing in the background.

It was almost too much for Cloud.  At most he’d been expecting maybe dinner and a movie before Sephiroth would have wanted to move things to the bedroom.  A scene straight out of the romance of the decade movie was not even a thought that had crossed his mind.

Once he’d gotten his nerves under control, dinner was wonderful.  They sat and talked all evening about anything and everything.  After dinner had been cleared and they’d moved to the sofa in the living room, Sephiroth had moved so that he was sitting sideways on the sofa facing Cloud.  He’d explained that while he loved Cloud, he also wanted to protect him.  So if he was willing, they would wait until Cloud had passed the SOLDIER exams and was a bit older before they would be together.  In the meantime, there was something that Sephiroth wanted to give him as a symbol of his intentions and as something to hold onto while they waited.

The General had pulled out a small jewellery box and presented it to Cloud.  The blonde had shakingly accepted the box, slowly lifting the lid.  Nested in the velvet cushion had been a silver vine ring.  When he’d taken the ring out, he’d spotted the inscription engraved on the inside.

_This I Promise_

Cloud could remember feeling so utterly happy that he hadn’t minded having to waiting a while before he could truly be with Sephiroth.  They loved each other and could be together their whole lives.  What was waiting a few more months in the long run?

Oh if only he had known.  Six months later, Nibelheim had happened and the world as Cloud had known it shattered.  Sephiroth’s promise had been like ashes in the wind in the wake of his overwhelming madness.  Everyone considered Sephiroth his great arch enemy because in their minds how could he be anything but?  Cloud never told anyone about what they really were to each other.  The only other people who had known had taken it with them to their graves.

Cloud clutched the ring in his hand tighter, the metal biting into his skin served to bring the blonde back to the present.  Slowly and gently, the young man unclenched his hand and unfurled his fingers to reveal his ring.  With a gentleness that he didn’t feel, Cloud threaded the ring back onto the chain and slipped it around his neck.

Grieving over what might have been didn’t change anything but Cloud couldn’t help it.  When he was alone in the dark at night, his mind would play what ifs with him.

Downing the rest of his beer and the last two shots in front of him, the blonde paid his bar tab and walked out.  After his time with Hojo, there were moments where he desperately craved to be utterly alone.  It was why he had set up a place for himself outside the city instead of taking his friends up on their offers of various sofas and spare rooms.

Alcohol may not affect him anymore but even with all the enhancements his body could only run on empty for so long before he crashed and slept.  Cloud didn’t even bother removing his boots.  He merely fell face down onto the bed, falling asleep the moment his head touched the old pillow.

~XOX~

“Cloud… oh Cloud… Open your eyes silly,” Aerith’s musical voice rang in his ears.  Cloud didn’t bother trying to ignore her.  He owed Aerith more than he could ever pay.  “Oh silly Cloud.  It was never your fault.”  This was something she always said when guilty thoughts crossed Cloud’s mind.

The blonde opened his eyes as he sat up.  They were in a large field covered in red, yellow and orange flowers.  It was exactly the type of place Cloud had quickly come to expect from the brunette.

“Hey buddy,” another voice greeted him as a hand clapped him on the shoulder.

Cloud could feel the smile tugging at his lips.  He’d missed his friend so much.  “Zach.”

“How you doing, Spikey?”

The blonde shrugged.  “I’m still alive.”

Zach and Aerith exchanged a look, an entire conversation occurring between the couple from just a few facial expressions.  This was also something that Cloud had become accustomed to after spending so much time with the two of them.

“Cloud, that’s no way to live,” Aerith spoke softly.  This was after all the whole reason her and Zach were here with Cloud.

Cloud made an aborted move to touch his ring hidden beneath his shirt.  Zach knew about it which meant that Aerith did too so there really was no reason to hide it – at least from the two of them.

Zach looked at his friend knowingly while his girlfriend continued to speak.

“Isn’t there anybody that maybe you could be happy with if you gave them a chance? Absolutely anybody that you can think of?” she asked softly.

Cloud shook his head.  “My only choice is dead and I killed him.  _Twice_.  There is no one else.”

Aerith stepped forward and gave her friend a hug.  The blonde had had so much taken away from him and still the world had demanded more.  Well that stopped now.  Things were going to change, even the planet was in agreement with her on this.

“I’m sorry Cloud,” Zach murmured seriously.  “Things were never supposed to be like this.  It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.”

Cloud snorted, shaking his head.  “I’m too old to hold onto broken dreams.”

The dark haired man shook his head and placed a hand on the blonde’s shoulder to make sure he had his full attention.  “No, you don’t understand.  It was not meant to happen like this.  As in it was not fated to happen like this.  Something went wrong with the oh so great plan for the world.  Sephiroth was never supposed to go mad, we weren’t meant to be dead.  Actually a number of people weren’t supposed to die when they did.”

Cloud looked at his old friend sceptically.  He couldn’t, however, squash that tiny bit of hope that had sparked deep down in his heart.  Maybe Zach was actually going somewhere with this.

Aerith took up the explanation.  “You’ve been through so much already Cloud but if you’re willing there is one more task for you and if you accept it might just make things right.”

The blonde looked between his friends curiously.  “What is it that I have to do?”

“Go back and change it,” Zach stated softly.

Cloud was confused.  He thought he might understand what the SOLDIER had said but he had to have heard wrong.  “What?”

Aerith reached out and gently took one of his hands as she explained.  “You’re being offered a gift.  A chance to go back and do it all again.  Change whatever needs to be changed to create a better future.  If you accept, you’ll be sent back.  You’ll keep all your memories and most of your enhancements except that Mako eyes.  That would just be a giveaway that something happened.  Because we don’t know exactly how you will react when you wake up, we’ll send you back to when we know that you will be alone.”

“When…” Cloud cleared his throat even though technically it wasn’t necessary as he wasn’t physically present. “When exactly do you want to send me back to?” _Please let it be before Nibelheim_. _Please say that it will be a while before then so that I can come up with a plan to save everyone including, no especially Sephiroth._

“Zach and I discussed it and thought that that month long survival training you’d had in the forest surround the Academy when your teammates all ditched you and left you to fend for yourself for the month would be an ideal time.  You’ll have time alone to adjust and being left alone for a month to fend for yourself will help you to explain some of the changes in you.”

Cloud nodded.  What they were proposing made a lot of sense and the best thing was that it had commenced the week after Lover’s Day so he would still have around six months to plan out what he was going to do before they would received the Nibelheim mission.  A sense of elation began to fill him.  This could be it.  A real chance to make things right.

“I’ll do it.”

Zach grinned.  He’d never doubted that Cloud would choose to go back.  “Try not to get into too much trouble eh Spikey,” he teased.

“You know me, Zach.  Trouble just seems to delight in finding me.”

Aerith laughed at their antics.  She desperately hoped that Cloud would be successful and that they could enjoy many more such moments.

As if he had heard her thoughts, Cloud turned to look at her.  “I’m ready.”

The brunette nodded and walked over to him slowly.  As she walked the field of flowers slowly began to part as a large river appeared behind Cloud.  A river made up entirely of Lifestream.

Zach caught Cloud up in a tight hug before stepping aside to make way for his girlfriend.  Aerith also hugged Cloud.  She stepped back and ran her fingers across the blonde’s forehead.  “Close your eyes.  This won’t hurt,” she whispered.

Once Cloud’s eyes were closed, she pushed him backwards and he fell into the Lifestream.


End file.
